Author: chicagoinquirer

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — No Cavaliers player had opened a season with back-to-back 30-point games, not even LeBron James, until now. That he became the first to do so was all well and good to Donovan Mitchell. More important to him was Cleveland getting its first win. Mitchell scored 32 points, and the Cavaliers made it look easy, pounding the Bulls 128-96 Saturday night in Chicago’s home opener. “It’s definitely an honor,” he said. “I’m blessed to be able to do that. Hopefully, I can continue to build and do more. I’m just doing what’s asked of me.” Mitchell…

NEW YORK  — Salman Rushdie’s agent says the author has lost sight in one eye and the use of a hand as he recovers from an attack from a man who rushed the stage at an August literary event in western New York, according to a published report. Literary agent Andrew Wylie told the Spanish language newspaper El Pais in an article published Saturday that Rushdie suffered three serious wounds to his neck and 15 more wounds to his chest and torso in the attack that took away sight in an eye and left a hand incapacitated. Rushdie, 75, spent…

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The defending champion United States will face the Netherlands in the group stage of the women’s soccer World Cup next summer, setting up an early repeat of the 2019 World Cup final. The draw was made at a ceremony in Auckland on Saturday. Four-time champion the United States was drawn in Group E with Vietnam, the Netherlands and a playoff winner still to be determined in a tournament expanded for the first time to 32 teams drawn into eight groups of four. The U.S. will play all of its group matches in New Zealand in the…

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday said Ethiopians already in the United States could remain for at least 18 months amid a war in Ethiopia’s north that pits federal troops and their allies against Tigray’s rebellious leaders. The Homeland Security Department estimates that 26,700 Ethiopians who were in the United States on Thursday will be eligible for Temporary Protected Status. “ Ethiopian nationals currently residing in the U.S. who cannot safely return due to conflict-related violence and a humanitarian crisis involving severe food shortages, flooding, drought, and displacement, will be able to remain and work in the United States…

by Samantha Hendrickson and David  Sharp COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s a busy Friday afternoon at a Somali restaurant on the northeast side of Columbus, home to second-largest Somali population in the United States. The smell of spices is just as robust as the loud conversation, and the East African restaurant is crowded after afternoon prayers at the nearby mosque. The hubbub grows when a familiar face swaggers in — Ismail Mohamed, a young Somali lawyer and candidate for the Ohio Legislature. Elders and youth alike clamor to say hello. The excitement that someone from their community could represent them in…

by Emeka Obasi Business continues to look up for oil and gas giant, Oilserv as new frontiers emerge even in a highly competitive and irregularly inclement global environment. The Nigerian conglomerate is deeply involved in huge projects spanning the West African Sub Region up North to Morocco and across the seas to Europe. The war in Ukraine has turned Western Europe away from gas supplies through Russia. The import is that eyes will be on markets elsewhere. Oilserv is fully prepared to be in the mix, providing services from across the Mediterranean. Chairman of Oilserv, Sir Emeka Okwuosa is an…

by Janie McCauley SAN FRANCISCO  — After all those thrilling NBA Finals battles of last decade, Stephen Curry and LeBron James can still put on a spectacular show well into their 30s. Opening night between these two greats showed why Curry’s team is on top these days. Curry began the season with 33 points, seven assists and six rebounds despite a slow start, and the Golden State Warriors beat James and the Los Angeles Lakers 123-109 on Tuesday night after receiving their championship rings in a pregame ceremony. “I’m thrilled with the win,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Ring night is…

CHICAGO  — Former President Barack Obama is about to hit the campaign trail ahead of the Nov. 8 election, but he came home Monday with the former first lady to vote. The two came to Chicago to vote in the city where Michelle Obama was born and raised and where the former president began his political career, first working as a community organizer before he was elected as a state senator, a U.S. senator and ultimately, president. They arrived at the Chicago Board of Elections Supersite in downtown Chicago shortly after 12:30 p.m. They chatted with poll workers, shook hands,…

by Aaron Morrison NEW YORK  — Gwen Carr sat up straight in her seat as she heard lines of dialogue delivered by the actor portraying Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy whose lynching in Mississippi in 1955 catalyzed the U.S. civil rights movement. “As I watched that film, I became Mamie Till,” Carr said last month at a private advance screening of “ Till,” the Orion Pictures and United Artists biopic that debuted Friday as the first ever feature length retelling of the historic atrocity and Till-Mobley’s pursuit of justice for Emmett. Carr is the…

by Jill Colvin NEW YORK — In Donald Trump’s assessment, Mike Pence “committed political suicide” on Jan. 6, 2021. By refusing to go along with the former president’s unconstitutional push to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Pence became a leading target of Trump’s wrath and a pariah in many Republican circles. But the final weeks of the intensely competitive 2022 election suggest the former vice president’s fortunes have shifted as he lays the groundwork for his own potential campaign for the White House in 2024. The man who was booed last year at a conservative conference is now…